Shetty retains treasurer's post

The Indian Cricket Board's Chief Administrative Officer Prof. Ratnakar Shetty comfortably retained his position as treasurer of the Mumbai Cricket Association at the much-hyped elections here today.

Shetty, who is also the Tournament Director of the 2011 World Cup to be held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and was part of the ruling Sharad Pawar group, thumped friend-turned-foe Ravi Savant 174-133 in a straight contest to remain the treasurer for the next two years.

Former Test and Mumbai opener Lalchand Rajput returned as the joint secretary of the MCA after a two-year gap. The ex-India coach beat back the challenge of incumbent and Pawar loyalist Dr P V Shetty by eleven votes.

The other contestant for the two joint secretaries' post, Hemant Waingankar, easily retained his seat with 208 votes.

The eleven-strong managing committee saw a split verdict with four rebel candidates advancing. The list of winners included former Mumbai Ranji Trophy cricketers Milind Rege and Sanjay Patil. Among those who lost was former Test opener Sudhir Naik.

Union Agriculture Minister Pawar had already been declared elected unopposed as the President along with two Vice-Presidents, Dilip Vengsarkar and newcomer and Union Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

The elections evoked a lot of interest and a total of 312 voters turned up to vote. Three votes were declared invalid.